The present invention relates to a postal sorting machine having sorting outlets distributed over one or more horizontal rows that are superposed and parallel, and in which each sorting outlet is provided with a bin for storing postal articles. The invention extends to so-called two-sided sorting machines having sorting outlets on both of two sides.
The invention applies most particularly to a machine working in one or more passes in order to sort postal letters, and it relates in particular to a sorting machine capable of preparing postal delivery rounds or “walks” in one, two, or three passes. More particularly, the invention applies to a sorting machine capable, in two passes, of preparing about one hundred delivery rounds, or more depending on the number of sort outlets.
At present, in order to prepare delivery rounds, postal articles are inserted for a first pass into the sorting machine and are sorted a first time into sort outlet receptacles. Each receptacle is emptied manually into a storage bin provided for this purpose that is positioned in a structure or a carriage. The structures or carriages containing the storage bins are then transferred in a defined order to the inlet of the sorting machine so that the postal articles are reinserted into the machine for a second pass. At the end of the second pass, the receptacles contain the postal articles properly sorted for delivery rounds, and their contents are transferred into the storage bins. The storage bins are then taken to a removal point so that they can be taken by postmen and women.
Prior to the invention, the operation of reloading the machine between the first and second passes was performed entirely manually. In order to take the sort outlet storage bins to the inlet of the machine, the operators made use of carriages on which the storage bins were stowed temporarily. In order to prepare delivery rounds in two passes, operators had to extract the bins from the sort outlets in a precise order and had to reinsert them into the sorting machine in the same order. That resulted in a risk of bins being interchanged during temporary storage on the carriage, having the effect of introducing malfunction into the preparation of delivery rounds. Furthermore, at the end of the second pass, the operators had to take the storage bins to a removal point remote from the sorting machine, thereby further increasing handling operations. In addition, such handling operations increase the time required for preparing delivery rounds.
As a result, preparing delivery rounds with such sorting machines takes a long time, requires a great detail of handling, and requires considerable attention to be paid by the operators.